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HARPER'S  NEW  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 


CONFEDEKATE  MAKE-SHIFTS. 

By  MRS.  M.  P.  HANDY. 

FOR  four  years  the  Federal  army  and  the 
Federal  fleet,  with  their  lines  of  bayo- 
nets and  open-mouthed  Coluinbiads,  shut  in 
the  Southern  Confederacy  from  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

The  Federal  gun-boats  fought  their  way 
up  the  Mississippi,  dividing  the  country  in 
two,  and  sea-port  after  sea-port  was  cap- 
tured, till  at  last  only  Charleston  and  Wil- 
mington were  left  as  inlets  for  the  outer 
world — narrow  gates  which  the  grim  war 
dogs  watched  unceasingly. 

Think  of  it,  ladies !  No  hats  nor  dresses 
from  Paris,  no  chocolate  caramels  nor  French 
bonbons,  and,  alas !  no  new  fashions,  save 
when  some  daring  female  went  back  and 
forth  under  flag  of  truce — a  privilege  not 
easily  obtained — bringing  on  her  return  a 
limited  wardrobe  wherewith  to  excite  the 
admiration  and  envy  of  her  friends.  Some- 
times a  soldier  sent  home  a  magazine  found 
in  a  captured  or  deserted  camp,  and  the  fash- 
ion plates  which  it  perhaps  contained  gave 
the  recipient  some  idea  of  what  the  world 
beyond  was  wearing. 

Now  and  then,  under  cover  of  a  dark  or 
stormy  night,  the  stealthy  blockade-runner, 
manned  by  men  familiar  with  every  nook 
and  creek  along  the  coast,  stole  out,  carrying 
cotton  and  tobacco  for  Nassau,  and  crept  in 
again  laden  with  the  foreign  commodities  so 
sorely  needed  by  the  blockaded  people.  But 
these  vessels  were  of  necessity  small,  and 
the  stores  they  brought  as  nothing  to  the 
demand.  Moreover,  medicines  and  muni- 
tions of  war  formed  large  part  of  their  car- 
goes, and  the  dry-goods  and  luxuries  offered 
by  their  consignees  to  the  general  public 
were  held  at  prices  beyond  the  means  of  all 
save  cotton  and  tobacco  brokers,  or  rich  gov- 
ernment contractors.  In  the  last  days  of 
the  Confederacy  a  yard  of  calico  brought 
forty  dollars  in  Confederate  currency,  a  spool 
of  sewing  cotton  twenty  dollars,  and  other 
dry-goods  were  proportionately  dear.  Flour 
rose  to  twelve  hundred  dollars  a  barrel ;  a 
ham  of  bacon  cost  a  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars ;  sugar  was  seventy-five  dollars  a  pound, 
and  black  pepper  three  hundred  dollars. 

Money  was  plenty,  it  is  true,  but  it  took 
so  much  to  buy  so  little !  The  caricature 
in  a  Southern  illustrated  journal  of  1863 
which  represented  a  lady  going  to  market 
attended  by  a  servant  with  her  money  in  a 
wheelbarrow,  and  returning  with  the  bar- 
row empty  and  her  purchases  in  a  small 
hand-bag  on  her  arm,  was  less  exaggerated 
than  are  many  of  the  best  cartoons  in  the 
comic  papers  of  to-day. 

Inflation  was  tried  to  the  fullest  extent, 
with  the  result  that  Confederate  money  be- 
came comparatively  worthless.  This,  how- 
ever, did  not  occasion  the  general  scarcity. 


There  was  not  much  to  be  had  even  for 
those  who  could  pay  war  prices. 

Thrown  thus  on  their  own  resources,  the 
Southern  people  were  forced  to  provide  for 
themselves.  To  appreciate  this  difficulty,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  prior  to  1861  the 
Southern  States  were  purely  an  agricultural 
community,  depending  on  their  staples  of 
tobacco,  cotton,  and  sugar  for  the  means  of 
purchasing  every  thing  else.  The  West  was 
in  large  measure  their  granary  and  meat- 
house,  while  New  England  supplied  them 
with  most  manufactured  articles.  Now  the 
blockade  shut  them  in  from  these  and  all 
other  markets,  >>and  it  was  as  though  some 
Jersey  market-gardener  should  wake  some 
morning  to  find  around  his  little  farm  a 
stockade  through  which  he  Could  not  break, 
and  over  which  he  could  not  climb  without 
risking  his  life.  Ingenuity,  economy,  and 
what  New  Englanders  call  "  faculty"  were 
taxed  to  the  utmost.  Every  household  be- 
came a  nest  of  domestic  manufactures,  every 
farm  had  its  cotton  patch  and  its  sorghum 
field.  Spinning-wheels  and  looms,  which  in 
former  days  had  been  used  for  clothing  the 
slaves  on  large  plantations,  but  which  dur- 
ing the  era  of  cheap  dry-goods  were  com- 
paratively idle,  were  again  set  going.  La- 
dies whose  white  hands  were  all  unused  to 
such  labor  learned  to  card,  to  spin,  and  to 
weave.  Knitting  became  as  fashionable  in 
Southern  parlors  as  it  is  in  German  homes. 
Homespun  dresses  were  worn  by  the  first 
ladies  in  the  land,  and  she  who  was  clever- 
est to  contrive  and  deftest  to  execute  had 
highest  praise  from  her  associates.  For- 
eign dyes  were  well-nigh  unattainable,  and 
the  woods  at  home  were  ransacked  for  the 
means  of  coloring  the  home-grown  flax, 
wool,  and  cotton.  Black-walnut  bark  fur- 
nished a  rich  brown,  varying  in  intensity 
with  the  strength  of  the  dye ;  swamp-ma- 
ple, a  clear  purple ;  pokeberries,  a  solferino, 
bright,  but  not  durable ;  wild  indigo  gave  a 
tolerable  blue,  and  elderberries  an  unsatis- 
factory black.  Indeed,  no  experiment  with 
bark,  root,  leaf,  or  berry  ever  resulted  in 
any  substitute  for  logwood;  and  as  black 
was  the  dye  most  needed  for  Southern  gar- 
ments in  those  dark  days,  the  blockade-run- 
ners learned  to  make  it  part  of  their  regular 
cargo. 

At  one  time  in  some  sections  of  the  South 
there  was  fearful  destitution  of  salt.  Spec- 
ulators held  it  at  enormous  prices.  Even 
the  rich  were  forced  to  use  it  sparingly. 
The  poor  seemed  likely  to  suffer  for  lack  of 
it,  and  live  stock  were  in  many  cases  denied 
it  altogether. 

Barrels  and  boxes  which  had  been  used 
for  packing  salt  fish  or  pork  were  soaked  in 
water  afterward,  which  was  boiled  down 
and  evaporated  for  the  sake  of  the  salt  thus 
extracted.  The  earthen  floors  of  smoke- 
houses, into  which  the  precious  mineral  had 


CONFEDEEATE  MAKE-SHIFTS. 


577 


been  trodden  year  after  year,  were  dug  up, 
and  the  earth  given  to  cattle,  or  treated 
with  water  after  the  same  manner  as  the 
salt-seasoned  hoards. 

The  government  at  Richmond  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  seizing  the  salt-works  through- 
out the  country,  issued  regular  rations  to 
each  family  at  nominal  prices  for  the  rest 
of  the  war.  By  this  high-handed  measure 
the  people  were  saved  from  a  salt  famine. 

Coffee  was  a  luxury  seldom  enjoyed,  and 
for  which  rye  or  wheat,  toasted  and  ground, 
was  the  usual  miserable  substitute.  Some 
quick-witted  person  conceived  the  idea  of 
using  sweet-potato  chips  instead.  These 
made  a  more  palatable  drink,  but  were,  after 
all,  only  a  hollow  mockery.  Dried  raspberry 
leaves  were  used  for  tea,  and  some  people 
fell  back  upon  sassafras,  the  North  Caro- 
linian beverage,  grimly  assuring  those  who 
scorned  it  that  it  was  good  for  the  blood 
and  would  save  doctors'  bills.  Not  a  few 
eschewed  all  these  transparent  deceptions — 
if  that  may  be  called  deception  which  de- 
ceived nobody — and  when  unable  to  afford 
milk,  drank  cold  water  with  patient  heroism. 
Children  there  were  in  the  Confederacy, 
born  of  well-to-do  parents,  who  at  the  close 
of  the  conflict  did  not  know  the  taste  of 
candy.  After  the  fall  of  New  Orleans,  sugar 
became  a  luxury,  never  wholly  unattainable, 
it  is  true,  but  enormously  dear  even  for  Con- 
federate money  values.  Previous  to  the  war, 
the  United  States  government  had  made  an 
effort  to  introduce  the  Chinese  sugar-cane, 
or  sorghum,  throughout  the  South  and  West, 
principally  with  reference  to  its  use  as  food 
for  live  stock.  It  was  extensively  cultivated 
in  some  of  the  Western  States,  but  Southern 
planters  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  new  for- 
age. Politicians  denounced  its  introduction 
as  an  attempt  to  injure  the  sugar-growing 
interest  of  the  far  South.  Amateur  farmers 
who  experimented  with  the  seed  distributed 
by  the  Patent-office  preferred  Indian  corn 
and  clover  or  oats  as  food  for  their  cattle,  and 
very  few  even  attempted  the  manufacture 
of  sorghum  molasses.  Now,  in  the  general 
destitution,  the  despised  sorghum  became  an 
inestimable  boon  to  the  besieged  country. 
Far  less  exacting  than  its  West  Indian  con- 
gener, it  flourishes  wherever  maize  can  be 
grown,  and  soon  it  became  part  of  every 
planter's  crop.  Every  large  plantation  had 
its  sorghum  mill  for  crushing  the  cane,  and 
smaller  planters  brought  their  little  crops  to 
the  mills  of  those  who  were  willing  to  grind 
for  their  neighbors.     These  mills  were  for 

^       the  most  part  primitive  affairs,  consisting 

^  of  three  upright  wooden  cylinders,  of  which 
the  centre  one,  turned  by  horse -power, 
moved  the  other  two  by  means  of  cog-wheels. 

Q  A  tub  set  underneath  the  machine  caught 
the  juice  which  flowed  from  the  crushed 

,        cane,  and  this  juice,  boiled  down  in  huge 
*    kettles,  and  clarified  with  lime,  soda,  or  even 


with  lye  from  hickory  ashes,  produced  the 
molasses  which  became  a  staple  article  of 
food  throughout  the  Confederacy.  Efforts 
to  reduce  the  sirup  to  sugar  were,  I  believe, 
abortive,  and  in  a  copy  of  General  Orders 
from  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's 
Office,  C.  S.  A.,  for  1862-63,  now  in  possession 
of  the  writer,  no  mention  is  made  of  sorghum 
sugar  in  the  price-list  established  for  mili- 
tary stores. 

Prominent  among  the  problems  with 
which  Confederate  families  were  forced  to 
grapple  was  that  of  lights.  The  gas-works 
in  the  principal  cities  were  kept  in  opera- 
tion, but  the  gas  furnished  was  of  the  poor- 
est quality  and  exorbitantly  dear.  Many 
private  families  were  unable  to  afford  its 
use,  and  the  few  who  could  pay  for  it  were 
not  always  sure  of  getting  it.  On  more  than 
one  occasion,  in  crowded  churches,  pastor 
and  people  were  given  a  practical  illustra- 
tion of  Egyptian  darkness ;  and  on  one  mem- 
orable night  the  gas  in  Richmond  gave  out 
simultaneously  all  over  the  city,  in  all  build- 
ings, public  and  private,  leaving  those  who 
depended  upon  its  illuminating  powers  in 
total  darkness.  Pine  torches — in  Southern 
parlance,  light-wood  kuots — were  to  be  had 
in  plenty,  and  in  winter  their  ruddy  glow  was 
comfortable  and  picturesque.  But  work  or 
reading  done  by  their  flickering  light  was  a 
terrible  strain  on  the  eyes,  and  the  heat  from 
the  blazing  wood  was  uncomfortable  in  sum- 
mer. Moreover,  the  pitch  smoke  was  objec- 
tionable, and  blackened  the  walls. 

Tallow-candles  were  the  usual  resort,  and 
were  often  surprisingly  hard  and  white. 
Old-fashioned  lard  lamps  came  again  into 
use  for  parlors  and  state  occasions,  giving 
a  soft,  clear  lustre,  much  like  that  of  the 
favorite  French  lamp.  But  lard  was  cost- 
ly and  scarce. 

For  sick-rooms  and  nurseries,  and  for 
mills  where  the  machinery  ran  all  night, 
but  where  a  bright  light  was  not  constant- 
ly required,  the  bolls  of  the  sycamore  or 
button-wood  tree  were  dried  and  used  as  a 
wick  in  a  cup  of  melted  grease.  During  a 
tedious  case  of  typhoid  in  the  family  of  the 
writer,  a  friend  introduced  a  taper  so  safe 
and  satisfactory  as  to  merit  use  in  other 
than  war  times.  A  small  triangular  scrap 
of  soft  paper  is  twisted  into  a  species  of 
miniature  fool's  cap,  the  hypothenuse  of  the 
triangle  forming  its  base.  This,  with  the 
knob  on  top  oiled  and  lighted,  and  the  low- 
er part  spread  out  like  a  fan,  is  inserted  as  a 
wick  in  a  small  saucer  of  lard.  There  is  no 
unpleasant  odor,  and  it  gives  a  dim  light  by 
which  objects  in  the  room  are  barely  distin- 
guishable, but  from  which  a  lamp  may  be 
instantly  lighted.  Near  the  taper  its  light 
is  sufficient  to  tell  the  hour  by  a  watch,  to 
read  the  label  on  a  vial,  and  to  measure 
medicine  with  ease. 

But  the  Confederate  candle  was,  beyond 


578 


HARPER'S  NEW  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 


all  else,  the  light  of  those  days.  Wax  and 
resin  were  melted  together  in  the  propor- 
tion of  two  ounces  of  resin  to  a  pound  of 
wax,  and  through  this  mixture  a  long  string 
of  candle-wick  was  drawn  once  and  again, 
until  thoroughly  coated.  Making  one  was 
always  a  frolic  for  the  younger  members  of 
a  household,  and  occasionally  furnished  ex- 
cuse for  an  afternoon  party.  It  was  a  mat- 
ter of  pride  to  have  the  candle  as  long  as 
possible,  and  the  work  was  always  done  out- 
of-doors.  The  saucepan  or  "skillet"  con- 
taining the  wax  rested  on  a  shovelful  of  hot 
coals;  the  ball  of  wick  was  unrolled  and 
passed  through  the  liquid,  and  from  hand 
to  hand,  until  every  inch  of  it  had  been  im- 
mersed three  times,  and  the  long,  irregular 
string  became  a  smooth  waxen  rope  about 
the  thickness  of  an  ordinary  lead -pencil. 
This  was  then  wound  on  a  wooden  stand — 
the  "Confederate  candlestick" — first  around, 
then  up  and  down.  The  free  end  was  drawn 
through  a  hole  in  a  strip  of  tin  nailed  for  the 
purpose  on  the  upper  part  of  the  candlestick, 
and  when  the  candle  was  in  use  was  lighted, 
the  long  rope  unwinding  like  a  reel  of  yarn 
as  it  was  gradually  consumed.  The  light 
was,  perhaps,  not  more  than  equal  to  that 
of  a  toy  candle,  yet  it  was  not  trying  to  the 
eyes,  and  was  sufficient  for  ordinary  pur- 
poses. The  place  next  the  saucepan  was 
the  post  of  honor  and  of  danger.  The  wick 
was  held  down  in  the  wax  by  means  of  a 
small  crotched  stick;  but,  in  spite  of  this 
precaution,  burned  fingers  were  not  unfre- 
quently  the  result  of  the  candle-making. 

In  view  of  the  scarcity  of  breadstuff's,  the 
use  of  edible  grains  in  the  manufacture 
of  spirituous  liquors  was  forbidden,  under 
heavy  penalties  of  fine  and  imprisonment, 
in  addition  to  the  confiscation  of  such  liq- 
uors and  the  implements  used  in  their  dis- 
tillation. Fruit  brandies,  apple,  peach,  and 
blackberry,  and  the  rum  distilled  from  the 
juice  of  the  sorghum  cane,  became  almost 
the  sole  intoxicating  beverages  of  the  Con- 
federacy. These  brought  high  prices,  and 
much  of  the  fruit  crop  was  converted  into 
brandy.  From  this,  also,  the  alcohol  for 
medicinal  purposes  was  distilled.  The  wine 
of  the  scuppernong  and  of  the  common  wild 
grape  was  also  extensively  manufactured. 

Drugs  and  medicines  were  extremely 
scarce,  and  many  lives  were  lost  for  lack  of 
them.  Prohibited  as  contraband  of  war,  they 
were  never  suffered  to  form  part  of  the  one 
hundred  pounds  of  baggage  allowed  each  of 
the  few  persons  granted  permits  to  go  South 
under  flag  of  truce.  Much  smuggling  was 
carried  on  along  the  border,  and  quinine 
and  opium  were  standard  articles  in  this 
dangerous  traffic.  The  Medical  Depart- 
ment at  Eichmond  appealed  to  the  women 
of  the  South  to  engage  in  the  culture  of 
opium,  and  distributed  quantities  of  poppy 
seed  for  that  purpose.     After  the  flower 


dropped  its  petals,  the  green  capsules  were 
to  be  pricked  with,  a  needle,  and  the  gum 
which  exuded  collected  and  sent  to  the 
Medical  Director.  Large  quantities  of  pop- 
pies were  raised,  but  very  little  opium  was 
gathered.  Dried  blackberries  were  a  lead- 
ing article  among  hospital  stores  contrib- 
uted by  Soldiers'  Aid  Societies  in  country 
neighborhoods.  Flaxseed  and  the  inner 
bark  of  the  sweet-gum  (Liquidarribar  styracA- 
flua)  and  of  the  slippery-elm  (  Ulmus  fulva) 
were  also  prominent  among  such  supplies. 

The  natural  resources  of  the  Southern 
States  are  immense,  and  stood  the  people  in 
good  stead.  Factories  of  different  kinds 
were  established  in  districts  remote  from 
the  seat  of  war,  but  the  machinery  was  nec- 
essarily imperfect,  and  the  results  such  as 
would  now  be  accounted  far  from  satisfac- 
tory. It  was  almost  impossible  to  procure 
rare  chemicals,  and  where  their  use  was  im- 
portant, the  work  was  of  course  incomplete. 

Confederate  paper,  in  even  the  finer  grades, 
resembled  whity- brown  wrapping  paper. 
Confederate  ink  was  pale  and  sick-looking. 
Confederate  matches  came  in  tiny  blocks, 
ftrom  which  they  were  broken  as  needed : 
Tboxes  were  too  costly  +,o  be  afforded  them. 

A  volume  might  be  written  on  the  ingen- 
ious contrivances  of  the  ladies  to  replenish 
their  wardrobes.  Homespun  dresses  were 
among  the  least  of  these.  They  made  every 
thing  they  wore,  from  hats  to  shoes,  and 
some  of  the  work  was  exquisitely  done. 
Such  articles  as  were  beyond  their  skill — 
and  they  were  few — were  substituted  some 
way  or  another.  Large  thorns,  with  the 
heads  tipped  with  sealing-wax,  did  duty  as 
hair-pins.  Common  brass  pins,  imported 
from  Nassau,  sold  near  the  close  of  the  war 
for  forty  dollars  a  paper,  and  needles  and 
thread  were  used  instead  wherever  such  use 
was  practicable.  Economy  was  an  obliga- 
tory virtue  in  those  days,  and  nothing  was 
wasted  which  could  possibly  be  turned  to 
account.  Mr.  Hale's  ingenious  story  of  the 
old  hoop-skirts  which  ruined  the  Confed- 
eracy was  more  far-fetched  than  even  he 
supposed,  for  nothing  so  valuable  was  ever 
thrown  away — though  I  must  confess  that 
they  were  often  stored  in  a  closet  while 
awaiting  the  numerous  uses  to  which  they 
were  put. 

Luxuries  were  not  many,  and  self-denial 
of  the  sternest  sort  was  frequently  prac- 
ticed. Starvation  parties,  at  which  no  re- 
freshments were  furnished,  were  ordinary 
entertainments  in  Eichmond  during  1864. 
Housekeepers  who  wished  to  give  suppers 
to  their  friends,  but  who  could  not  afford  to 
call  in  the  costly  aid  of  a  confectioner,  re- 
sorted to  various  expedients.  Calves' -foot 
jelly  was  made  without  wine  or  lemons, 
peach  brandy  and  vinegar  being  the  sub- 
stitutes, and  was  not  an  unpalatable  dish. 
Milk  was  always  procurable,  and  ice-cream, 


CONFEDERATE  MAKE-SHIFTS. 


579 


in  consequence,  not  unknown.  Such  des- 
serts as  could  be  made  with,  sorghum  mo- 
lasses were  those  most  frequent.  Indeed, 
there  was  a  surfeit  of  sorghum  to  those  who 
used  it  in  lieu  of  something  better,  and  the 
word  became  a  slang  term  for  flattery — the 
equivalent  of  the  Yankee  "soft  sawder." 
Preserves  put  up  with  sorghum  molasses 
had  always  a  twang  which  betrayed  their 
origin — a  twang  barely  mitigated  by  the 
use  of  soda.  Yet  few  people  could  afford 
the  use  of  sugar  for  the  purpose,  and  those 
who  could  not,  gladly  availed  themselves  of 
the  cheaper  make-shift. 

People  whose  vanity  lay  in  their  feet,  and 
who  were  in  consequence  particular  about 
their  shoes,  had  a  hard  time  of  it  in  those 
days.  Ladies  not  unfrequently  made  the 
upper  part  of  their  own  cloth  gaiters,  using 
for  pattern  an  old  shoe  ripped  in  pieces,  and 
had  them  soled  by  a  shoe-maker,  ^  Country 
tanneries  were  kept  busy,  and  country  shoe- 
makers found  themselves  in  request  of  those 
who  had  hitherto  scorned  their  handiwork. 
"fFine  leather  was  scarce,  and  beef  brought 
such  high  prices  that  calves  were  usually 
kept  as  a  growing  investment.  Now  and 
then  one  of  tender  age  was  sacrificed  on  the 
shrine  of  vanity,  and  then  tanner  and  shoe- 
maker had  little  peace  until  their  work  was 
done  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  fortunate 
owner.  Goats  had  short  lease  of  their  lives, 
and  dogs  shook  in  their  skins  after  some- 
body discovered  that  from  those  skins  leath- 
er of  the  finest  and  softest  quality  might  be 
manufactured.  This  known,  they  were  ruth- 
lessly slaughtered.  Even  the  meanest  cur 
was  of  value  for  once,  and  "  nothing  in  his 
life  became  him  like  the  leaving  of  it." 
Sheep-skins  tanned  with  the  wool  on  were 
highly  prized  for  saddle  blankets;  shorn, 
they  made  excellent  riding  gloves ;  and  to 
these  purposes  they  were  usually  applied. 
Remembering  the  sabots  of  the  French  peas- 
antry, some  one  introduced  shoes  with  wood- 
en soles,  to  which  the  upper  leather  was  se- 
cured by  tacks.  These  were  cheap  and 
durable,  and  became  popular  for  stout  walk- 
ing shoes.  Shaped  to  the  foot  like  a  Roman 
sandal,  and  with  low  broad  heels,  they  were 
not  uncomfortable ;  and  the  fact  that  they 
were  almost  water -proof  compensated  in 
some  degree  for  the  difficulty  of  procuring 
rubber  overshoes.  In-doors  their  clatter  on 
bare  floors  was  objectionable,  and  many  per- 
sons kept  them  in  the  hall,  with  hat  and 
wrappings,  for  use  in  wet  weather  alone^ 

Straw  plaiting  became  a  usual  accom- 
plishment with  Southern  girls,  and  the  bun- 
dle of  wet  straws  and  the  constantly  length- 
ening braid  were  of  frequent  appearance  in 
the  family  circles  gathered  around  the  Con- 
federate candle.  The  plait  most  common 
was  that  known  as  the  "  rough  and  ready" 
— a  pointed  braid  woven  with  four  straws. 
Ladies  wishing  for  something  more  stylish 


preferred  the  seven  plait  of  split  straw,  iden- 
tical with  the  popular  English  straw.  An 
inventive  genius  produced  and,  I  think,  pat- 
ented, a  little  machine  for  splitting  the 
straw.  This  was  a  small  block  of  wood 
with  a  fragment  of  steel  from  an  old  hoop- 
skirt  inserted  at  one  end  and  filed  into  tiny 
teeth  for  dividing  the  straw.  A  longer  scrap 
of  the  same  steel  served  as  a  lever  for  keep- 
ing the  straw  in  place  as  it  was  drawn  across 
the  teeth  of  the  splitter.  Wheat  straw  was 
the  kind  most  plentiful,  and  therefore  most 
used.  Rye  straw,  longer  and  whiter,  was 
often  cultivated  expressly  for  the  purpose 
of  plaiting.  Oat  straw,  soft  and  light,  made 
a  pleasant  hat  to  wear,  but  the  straws  were 
short  and  coarse,  and  generally  so  dark  that 
the  work  had  always  to  be  dyed. 

The  inner  shuck  of  the  Indian  corn  was 
woven  into  hats  for  children.  These  were 
as  white  and  as  soft  as  the  chip  hats  of  to-^ 
day.  Trimmings  for  them  were  made  from 
the  same  materials,  intermixed  with  raveled 
silk.  Ropes  and  tassels,  flowers  and  leaves, 
and  an  exceedingly  fine  braid  for  trimming, 
were  all  made  of  straw.  .Feather  bands  for 
trimming  sacques  and  wraps,  with  aigrettes 
and  feather  flowers  for  hats  and  bonnets, 
were  exquisitely  manufactured  by  the  deft 
fingers  of  Confederate  women.  The  feather 
fans,  made  by  a  family  of  sisters  whose  name 
is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Virginia,  became  fa- 
mous throughout  that  State  and  North  Car- 
olina. Many  of  them  are  no  doubt  still  pre- 
served as  relics  of  war  times  by  those  who 
were  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  them. 

Never,  perhaps,  was  there  more  need  for 
ingenuity;  rarely  has  so  much  been  exer- 
cised. Many  of  these  make-shifts  were  con- 
trivances of  which  the  users  were  honestly 
proud,  or  over  which  they  could  at  least 
cheerfully  laugh ;  and,  after  all,  it  was  com- 
paratively easy  to  dispense  with  luxuries 
when  all  one's  neighbors  did  the  same. 
But  there  came  a  day  when  men  told  one 
another  the  story  of  the  straw-adulterated 
bread  of  the  Russian  serfs,  and  wondered 
whether  such  food  could  be  eaten  by  those 
used  to  better  things,  looking  forward  to 
the  time  when  they  might  be  forced  to  try 
the  experiment  themselves ;  when  every 
ounce  of  meat,  every  spoonful  of  meal,  was 
precious ;  when  wheaten  bread  was  thought 
a  luxury ;  when  butter  was  rarely  seen  ex- 
cept on  the  tables  of  the  rich ;  when  eggs 
were  treasured  as  a  delicacy  for  the  sick ; 
and  when  people  endured  privations  so  con- 
stantly that  they  ceased  to  consider  them 
such. 

When  Lee's  army  surrendered,  it  had 
dwindled  to  a  handful  of  ragged,  starving 
veterans.  The  people  at  home  had,  in  re- 
sponse to  an  appeal  from  their  idolized  gen- 
eral, vainly  put  themselves  on  half  rations 
to  send  him  supplies,  and  one  of  the  first 
duties  of  the  Federal  troops  on  taking  pos- 


580  HAEPEE'S  NEW  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 

session  of  Eichmond  was  to  feed  the  coun-  j  " 
try  they  had  conquered.    The  war  had  writ-  I 
ten  its  record  in  blood  on  well-nigh  every 
Southern  hearth-stone,  and  many  of  those  , 
who  had  sacrificed  most  in  the  fight  for  se-  I 
cession  drew  a  breath  of  relief  that  the 
struggle  was  ended,  even  though  they  had ! 
failed ;  for  watching  and  waiting  were  done  ' 
with,  cannon  and  rifle  shot  would  dig  no 
more  graves. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032770252 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


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